Eldridge Small (August 2, 1949 – May 11, 2015) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

who played with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

's (NFL)

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

from 1972 to 1974. Small was born in Houston, Texas, and attended Wheatley High School before playing college football for the Texas A&I Javelinas from 1968 to 1971 as a wide receiver and defensive back. As a receiver, he had 20

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s in his college career, made 167 receptions, and had 2,547 receiving yards. Small was the Javelinas' all-time receptions leader until 2013, when Robert Armstrong surpassed his total. In 1971, Small was chosen as a member of the

Little All-America team The Little All-America team is an honor given annually to the best small college players at their respective positions. The first Little All-America team for college football, selected with assistance from reporters in every region, was announc ...

. Texas A&I won two

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

during his time with the team. The university's Javelina Hall of Fame inducted Small in 1991. In the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

, the Giants selected Small in the first round with the 17th overall pick, which they had obtained from the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in a trade for

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

Fred Dryer John Frederick Dryer (born July 6, 1946) is an American actor, radio host, screenwriter and former professional football player. He was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 years, participating in 176 games starting in ...

. He played in 34 games for the Giants over three seasons, intercepting one pass, in 1974, and amassing 353 kick return yards. In 1975, the Giants traded Small to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, but he was released before the start of the regular season. Following his NFL career, he began coaching in the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

, working for Sterling High School as an

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

. On May 11, 2015, when he was 65 years old, Small died.

References

External links

NFL.com profile
1949 births 2015 deaths American football defensive backs New York Giants players Players of American football from Houston Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players {{Defensiveback-1940s-stub